The Dolphins selected him 87th overall in last year's draft, hoping the 6-foot-5 target would make an impact on third downs and in the red zone. Turner was Mark Sanchez's favorite target at USC and led the Trojans in touchdowns his senior season.

Yet he failed to catch a pass his rookie year. He was a healthy scratch for all but two games. Ohio State rookie Brian Hartline, drafted 19 spots after Turner, caught 31 passes for 506 yards and a team-high three receiving touchdowns.

At the NFL scouting combine last month, Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland said Turner "has to step it up," but added, "He's a player for the future. We like the player very much. He's a big, huge target, which this quarterback needs. We feel very good about his development."

As Ireland noted, players develop differently, and Turner's college coach noted the process was a little longer at USC, too.

Pete Carroll, now with the Seattle Seahawks, talked about Turner at the NFC coaches media breakfast Wednesday as part of the NFL owners meetings at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes.

"I think Patrick is a guy who has to develop his relationship with the club," Carroll said. "It took him a while at SC to really take over. He had a very good junior year, but it took him all the way to his senior year, while other guys we had who played the position had taken over immediately as freshmen.

"We watched him develop a little more slowly and get comfortable. Once he did, he took over.

"I would bet that if it's [similar to his college transition], he'll develop a very comfortable feeling and be a factor for them. He's a very, very good player."

What a bunch of BS. The guy couldn't get on the field with our mediocre receiving corps....and was clearly bested by a 4th round draft pick with more heart than physical tools.

_________________Philbin's countenance exudes confidence!1984 was so long ago...Will there ever be another rainbow?

Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:40 pm

Iowafin

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:55 pmPosts: 5439

Re: Carroll big fan of Fins' mystery receiver

Well...he's willing to send a 2nd and 3rd for a quarterback that's never played...maybe he'd send a 2nd and 3rd for a receiver that never played, eh?

_________________

Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:41 pm

FrustratedFinFan

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:30 amPosts: 2877

Re: Carroll big fan of Fins' mystery receiver

No....Carroll actually has a functioning brain.

_________________Philbin's countenance exudes confidence!1984 was so long ago...Will there ever be another rainbow?

Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:45 pm

NFLJunkie

Phinfever Blog Writer - Thursdays

Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:47 amPosts: 6254

Re: Carroll big fan of Fins' mystery receiver

FrustratedFinFan wrote:

What a bunch of BS. The guy couldn't get on the field with our mediocre receiving corps....and was clearly bested by a 4th round draft pick with more heart than physical tools.

Yes we should cut any rookie who takes more than 1 season to develop.

Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:55 am

Big Dave

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:41 amPosts: 10227Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: Carroll big fan of Fins' mystery receiver

NFLJunkie wrote:

FrustratedFinFan wrote:

What a bunch of BS. The guy couldn't get on the field with our mediocre receiving corps....and was clearly bested by a 4th round draft pick with more heart than physical tools.

Yes we should cut any rookie who takes more than 1 season to develop.

From what I understand about Turner, he's has an enormous amount of talent. I think most people think most of his problems are mental. Who knows, but when we were out of the playoffs it would have made sense to give the guy some snaps. Sparano screwed up with that. It would have given him some game experience and let the staff see how he does in an actual game. As a fan, I would have liked to see how our 3rd round pick would perform. It had to be better than one of our first day draft picks.

I agree but who do you sit? Bess, Camarillo, Hartline or Ginn? I could argue we have the same problem with Ginn. He seems a bit slow. Ditto for Jason Allen. The NFL trash bin is full of guys with great potential who never really quite got it. At some point these players have to become mentally tough and just do it. Personally it wouldn't surprise me to see Sean Smith back on the bench this year. He's got a mountain of potiential but he is pretty fragile upstairs. I'd like to see Turner play but I think TS was playing the mathematical elimination game toward the end. Which I don't think he had any choice but to do that.

Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:28 pm

IamPZ

Phinfever Global Moderator, Design Admin

Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:24 amPosts: 4098

Re: Carroll big fan of Fins' mystery receiver

Seems everyone is getting very impatient with WR development lately just because a few teams have been able to utilize rookie WR's here and there. I'm still of the notion that it takes around 3 years for a WR to start clicking and start putting his game on. We'll see if we get any improvement out of him this year... I sure hope so!!

Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:05 pm

AQNOR

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:17 amPosts: 4091

Re: Carroll big fan of Fins' mystery receiver

NFLJunkie wrote:

Personally it wouldn't surprise me to see Sean Smith back on the bench this year. He's got a mountain of potiential but he is pretty fragile upstairs.

Why do you have this assessment of him? He had more starts and gave up less big plays than did the other rookie.

Quote:

V. Davis was by far the player who gave up the most big plays. He gave up 17 passing plays of 20+ yards for 647 yards. S. Smith was second with 11 plays for 378 yards.